Chapter 4526 — Vermilion Bird

"I suppose you could call it that..." The ghost-thing's breathing had plainly grown somewhat hurried now, and its tone turned complicated. "This doesn't count as a complete Spirit Beast Assembly, because the spirit beasts of several territories haven't come over. Still, the scale is already nothing to laugh at—the spirit beasts in this area have all been summoned. It seems this Vermilion Bird really is eaten up with ambition, and is preparing to make itself regent."

"Vermilion Bird? Which one is the Vermilion Bird?" Wei Zhao looked up at the high platform in surprise. Since it was not in its true form, he could not fix upon which one it was even knowing full well that the Vermilion Bird stood upon the stage; his gaze unconsciously sought the very center of the platform.

In that seat sat a mysterious figure in a bamboo hat. What it looked like was unknown, and what manner of spirit beast it was was even less known—all that could be said was that the hat and robes were made entirely of brilliant feathers in every color, making it the most flamboyantly dressed of anyone present. And whoever occupied the central seat was bound to be the most important personage; barring accident, this should be the Vermilion Bird.

After all, by the logic of the vast majority of normal folk, this Vermilion Bird—top elder of the spirit beast clan—might be mighty, but when all was said and done it was still a bird, and a fondness for draping itself in gaudy plumage was entirely natural, entirely in keeping with common sense.

"Not that one." The ghost-thing knew what Wei Zhao was thinking and directed him. "The one to the hat-wearer's left—that's the Vermilion Bird."

At these words Wei Zhao looked hard again, and only then noticed that in the two seats nearest the central hat-wearer, one to the left and one to the right, sat two elders of strange appearance.

The one on the left had a face red as blood, with brows that stood upright, giving off a daunting pressure that overawed without anger. Though he merely sat there calmly, his whole body seemed shrouded in raging fire, so that none dared meet his eyes; one felt that to come a little closer would be to be burned to nothing, scattered to ash and smoke.

Strange as his appearance was, the Vermilion Bird's true face and aura were not altogether beyond expectation—at least in Wei Zhao's eyes it was worthy of its station as top elder of the spirit beast clan, making it plain at a glance that this was a being who stood among the clouds like a god of heaven, and by no means to be taken for some common spirit beast.

"Then who is that hat-wearer in the very center, and who is the one at his right hand?" Wei Zhao could not help asking out of curiosity.

Leaving aside the mysterious hat-wearer, even the elder standing at his right hand was, like the Vermilion Bird, of a most outlandish and eye-catching appearance—a blue face and jutting fangs, and most striking of all a pair of golden pupils that fairly stung the eye. The dreadful aura rolling off him was not much inferior to the Vermilion Bird's.

"That mysterious hat-wearer looks to be the new Spirit Beast King the Vermilion Bird has found, though what manner of spirit beast he truly is, I couldn't say." The ghost-thing's voice carried a note of lament.

It was to seek the bloodline of the Spirit Beast King in the secular world that he had ended up in the wretched state he was in today. To claim he harbored not the slightest doubt about this new Spirit Beast King who had appeared from nowhere would be a downright lie—the Vermilion Bird's reputation had never been good, after all, and besides, the ploy of holding the sovereign hostage to command the lords was one that had played out far, far too many times.

Were he not in his present condition, the ghost-thing would absolutely have gone up in person to test the mettle of this new Spirit Beast King. If the bloodline proved false, he would be the first to let the Vermilion Bird off the hook no longer. But as things stood, he had the will and not the strength—what was he to do?

The ghost-thing fell speechless for a moment, then spoke again in a low voice: "As for the one at the right hand, I don't know him either. Could it be an elder the Vermilion Bird has lately promoted?!"

From the mere fact that this person could stand alongside Elder Vermilion Bird at the king's left and right, one could see that his status must be very high—most likely he too was an elder. Yet the ghost-thing had dealt with the great and small elders of the spirit beast clan to some degree, and had never seen the like of this one. This was a completely unfamiliar new face.

The ghost-thing could not help sinking into thought. From the strange spectacle before him today, he had already caught a whiff of something out of the ordinary; every sign indicated that this spirit beast clan was no longer the spirit beast clan he had known.

The ghost-thing's heart was a tangle of feelings, but Wei Zhao harbored no such reflections. He merely blended in among the crowd without betraying a thing... oh no, more precisely, among the beasts. To him it mattered not in the least what became of the spirit beast clan, so long as his human identity was not discovered.

And what gratified Wei Zhao somewhat was that the attention of these powerful spirit beasts all around was wholly fixed upon the high platform and the troupe of dancing spirit beasts in the middle; from first to last not one had spared him a second glance. Even those nearby who had occasionally noticed him let their eyes slide past.

After all, Wei Zhao had only the aura of a spirit beast at the mere Golden Core stage. Such paltry strength, set against the whole assembly, could only rank at the very bottom; no one would waste time paying heed to such a weakling, much less strike up a conversation with him! Had this been some other occasion where slaughter was permitted, being taken for a snack and gulped down whole by the spirit beasts present would have been about right.

Be that as it may, from what could be seen so far, the ghost-thing's disguise had succeeded; barring any mishap, they ought to slip through without trouble.

Amid a tide of earth-shaking cheers rising and falling, the shapeshifted spirit beasts in the middle at last finished their dance and dispersed among the beast throng, and at once the eyes of every spirit beast in the hall swung in unison to the high platform. That dance just now had been but a festive overture; what came next was the true main event.

Sure enough, once the focus of every spirit beast present had of its own accord shifted to the high platform, the Vermilion Bird stepped forward with a great laugh, leaving the so-called new Spirit Beast King and the other elders all behind him. From his high-spirited air, anyone not in the know might well have taken him for the Spirit Beast King himself.

"Very good. This elder is delighted to see the spirit beast brethren of Anluo Cultivation City gathered in one place, come from all quarters to pay homage to our new king!" the Vermilion Bird declared, and with every gesture a scorching wave of heat engulfed the whole assembly, proclaiming his absolutely overwhelming strength while raising the already fervent atmosphere to an even more fevered pitch.

As his words fell, the hall erupted in a roar like mountains and seas; every spirit beast, whether in human or beast form, dropped to its knees of one accord, crying "Long live the king!" as they performed the full kowtow, forehead, hands, and knees all to the ground.

These were proud and untamable spirit beasts, any one of which, loosed upon the world, could likely throw the Southern Continent's seas into chaos. Wei Zhao had assumed that given their temperaments, even if they submitted to this so-called new Spirit Beast King, it would at most be a nominal gesture. He had never expected them to kneel of their own will.